We spent yesterday with our new friends from Mantanzas at Varadero, one of Cuba's premier beach resorts. This is a clean ,well painted beautiful sea side resort with many European tourists. It also showed us a more depressing side of Cuba. While we as Americans can move about  freely on the beach our Cuban friends were limited in their activities and where they could go on the beach. I saw again that freedom is a very precious gift that not everyone can share.

We left Varadero we headed Southwest to Colon. Colon is a delightful rural city with more horse drawn carriages and carts than cars and a bikes for everyone in town.

The Pastor, Cirio Santana Perugorria (◄), is a very energetic person who scoots around town on his motor bike.

The church, located in a typical residential Cuban community, appeared to be a remodeled three-bedroom home. Imagine more than 130 children meeting (►) in what were the bedrooms and 250 adults meeting the larger area of the house that measured 30 by 36 feet.  It was what you would call a ”packed  house.”

We knew we were in for a very successful meeting when we met Alvaro Ferro (◄) who had been praying  during the meetings for their success. Alvaro ,who speaks no English had composed a note in  English for Guest Evangelist Kerry Kelly that said, “He would be praying for him every night for the success of these meetings.” The pastor told us that every night Alvaro goes to the rear of the church and prays during the entire meeting.

Alicia Hermida (▼, left, about 14 years of age),  told us the  story of how she has always believed in Christ but never attended church on her own. She was always seeking Jesus, but could never find Him. Then one day The Lord came to her in the form of a Seventh-day Adventist sister who invited her to a meeting at a home church (called a  “House of Light”).

They were showing  a video by Pastor Bullón. She went and since that first night she sensed the Holy Spirit was calling her. She opened her heart to The Lord and has finally found peace.  Her life has been transformed.  The  things she used to love, she now hates and the things she hated, she now loves. She says, “It’s as if I’ve been born again,” and indeed she has been.

Those who work in evangelism know successful meetings are dependant upon people behind the scenes. Here Pastor Perugorria (▲) behind the pulpit,  poses (left) with his outstanding team.

The successful evening in this “ packed house “ ended with some of the attendees going home in this very full  bus (►).

Comments by Kerry Kelly:

This was my first experience in being part of an evangelistic team like the one that descended on Cuba for a nation-wide campaign. I had never conducted an evangelistic Campaign and had never been part of a mission trip to another country. From the first moment that I was asked to be part of this effort in Cuba, I recognized God’s leading. There were several miracles that God worked in order to make our trip successful including helping us get all of our literature and materials into Cuba to support our meetings.

I wasn’t assigned to Colon initially, but God worked in mysterious ways to reassign me there, where He had prepared just the right circumstances for me to work with the local Pastor (Cirilo Santana Perugorria) and his enthusiastic congregation to reach out to their community for Christ. This was a wonderful experience for me personally because I could literally feel God working through me in many different ways every day I was there.

Colon, Matanzas, Cuba is located about 200 km Southeast of Havana in the agricultural mid-section of Cuba. This area is known for sugar cane and sugar processing as well as fruit plantations and vegetable farms. The area seemed to be poorer than Havana and Matanzas, but the people were friendly, enthusiastic, and very excited about learning about the Gospel.

The advance support from Elder Robert Folkenberg, Carolina Conference Global Evangelism, and The Quiet Hour was outstanding. We could never have been able to put on these meetings without the advice, logistics, and power point slides and sermons that they provided.  The advance preparation by the local church in Colon by inviting their friends, relatives, and neighbors to the meetings and arranging transportation for many of the visitors was a key to the success of the meetings.

The local congregation provided all the special music, song services, children’s program, and health talks. These were of professional quality and were a large part of the attraction for the visitors. Christ and His Truth were portrayed in a beautiful, energetic, organized, and intelligent way through our combined efforts.

Transportation was provided by the local church and by funds from The Quiet Hour, our team’s home churches, friends, and relatives. This was critical in getting many of the visitors from outlying areas to the meetings each night. The came on foot, by bicycle, horse-drawn carriages, trucks, and busses. They were very dedicated considering the circumstances many of them had to endure just to get to the meetings.

The church was small. It had a seating area of 30X36 feet with two rows of benches that seated about 100 people for the adult meetings. The first night, we had 47 visitors in addition to the church members, so we could seat everyone comfortably. On the second night, we had to move the two rows of benches all the way to the walls and put in another row of benches! The third and fourth nights were standing room only with church members having to stand outside to make room for the visitors. God was motivating the visitors to bring their friends and relatives.

The children’s program was held in the back of the church in 3 rooms of about 10X15 feet each. We averaged over 150 children per night. I’ve never seen so many children in such a small space! It was really hot for them, but they loved singing Bible songs and learning about Jesus, and they kept coming and bringing their friends.

Translation was provided by a young man from Havana, who’s love for the Lord made him a very effective translator for the meetings. He also became my close friend through the 3 weeks we were together. He had learned English on his own and we spent many hours making sure he understood exactly the messages that I would be preaching each night. Because of this preparation time, our sermons became very crisp and clear. Several people commented that our overall program of music, video, health talks, and sermon was very effective.

God was answering the prayers of many of our home church members back in Michigan, who were praying for our meetings each day. Many of the church members in Colon were also asking for God’s blessings each day too.

There were 12 visitors who came to every meeting. Many more attended 7 or more meetings, and several of them were taking notes during the sermons. They were hearing new Bible Truth for the first time. All of the people who were actively taking notes asked to prepare for baptism. You could feel their love and excitement as they were learning new Truth.

Lazaro is about 60 years old. He was an alcoholic and drank so much that he neglected eating. One day, a church member who happened to be his neighbor invited him to our meetings. He came to every one. He was always extremely cheerful and energetic at the end of the meetings, and I always looked forward to seeing him. One evening, he invited me to come to his house to take some pictures of him in his home. I said that we would be happy to visit, so we arranged a horse carriage ride to his neighborhood for the next day.

Lazaro lived in a very poor part of town and had little money. He lived in a tiny shack, which barely had room for his cot. When we arrived, he introduced us to a neighbor who told us that Lazaro had completely changed since he started coming to our meetings. He hadn’t had a drink of alcohol. He was cheerful, and helpful, and he had gained some weight. He led us around the neighborhood and introduced us to many of his neighbors. This neighborhood was badly damaged by the hurricane, that had come through Cuba at the end of November, 2001, and the damage was still evident with walls down and big sections of roofs missing. Several of the people in the neighborhood asked for us to pray for sick children or elderly, and we did pray for them right there. While I was walking through this neighborhood with people coming out of their homes to talk with us and asking us to pray with them, I felt like I imagined Jesus felt as he walked through the streets if Israel 2000 years ago. It was a wonderful experience for me.

When we were leaving, Lazaro told us that his neighbors had told him that "we would never come to that part of town", and he was so excited that we had come to show God’s love to his neighbors. That night, several people that we had met there came to our meeting.

Reina lives with Antonio, a construction worker, and their children (Raiko and Lesly). They were not married, but Reina had heard about the meetings from a neighbor. She was attending and wanted to be baptized. Antonio had not come to any of the meetings. One day when I was visiting the neighbor, she found out I was there and invited me to her home to meet her family. We went right over and had a nice conversation with Antonio and the children. I invited him to come along with Reina to the meetings, and from that day on, he didn’t miss a meeting! He and Reina both came forward to give their hearts to Christ. They plan to get married and be baptized.

Humberto came to every meeting. He was about 28 years old and was a former Adventist who had slipped away from the church about 10 years ago. He had heard about the meetings and sat in the front seat every night. He was trying to learn English and we became friends. He would always stay after the meetings to talk with me, and when we did the alter call, he was one of the first to come up. On the last night of the meetings, he also brought his wife. We are praying that they will both study God’s word and be baptized.

A man, came to all of the meetings and his wife, and their twin daughters came to most of the meetings. He was always very friendly and asked questions about some of the topics after the meetings. They had a grand daughter who was in the hospital while I was there, so we went to visit. The whole family was there and we had a nice visit, which ended in us taking a horse carriage ride back home. They were very quiet but were eager to learn more. During the alter call, they came forward to prepare for baptism. This family will make a great addition to the church in Colon.

This was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I was blessed beyond anything that I have experienced in my Christian life to date. I would recommend this type of experience to any layman who has had some experience preaching and wants to dramatically grow their persona experience with the Lord. The experience required me to take some personal risks. I did many things that I had never done before, but God always provided what I needed and kept me at peace even when there was a lot of uncertainty. What a great experience with God! During this whole trip, God’s presence was absolutely real, tangible, and evident to me… more than ever before in my life. Now my challenge is to grow my relationship with Him even more!

Kerry Kelly, 7577 E. Beal City Rd., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858   Tel: (989) 773-1222    kerryjkelly AT msn.com